


Four things that make Victor cry, and one that doesn't

by Shenandoah_Risu



Category: Burn Notice
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Friendship, Gen, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-03
Updated: 2012-07-03
Packaged: 2017-11-09 01:56:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/449971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shenandoah_Risu/pseuds/Shenandoah_Risu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Victor is a tough guy. But he has his soft spots, too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four things that make Victor cry, and one that doesn't

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is clearly an AU, one where Victor survives (I imagine Sam and Fiona rescue him and get him to a hospital while Michael is in the helicopter with Management). 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading! ;-)

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**Four things that make Victor cry, and one that doesn't**

**1.**

“Victor, are you all right?”

Fiona’s hushed voice wakes Michael instantly. He sits up, sees her bent over the prone man between them. Victor’s hands cover his face, his breathing is labored and shallow. Fiona shoots Michael a look in the dim light of the loft, just as Sam’s voice comes from across the room, gruff from interrupted sleep. 

“What’s going on?”

Michael touches Victor’s shoulder. “Hey,” he says softly. “Pain again?”

Victor nods and slides his hands off his face. His cheeks are wet, his features pinched. 

Sam ambles over. “Where does it hurt?”

Victor swallows hard, closing his eyes. “Right foot,” he manages to grind out.

They look at each other. Phantom pains. The doctor told them that the tremendous blood loss from being shot twice resulted in some brain damage, mostly affecting motor skills and causing unpredictable debilitating pain in the extremities. It should go away over time, they were told, but these days this happens a lot, usually when Victor has just fallen asleep.

Fiona gets up to fetch a cold wet cloth, Michael reaches for the bedside lamp and Sam sits down on the bed, carefully picking up Victor's right foot and massaging it.

“Can you feel this?”

Victor shakes his head. Fiona hands Michael the cloth and he gently lays it over Victor’s eyes. 

They sit and wait, wincing whenever Victor's breath hitches. Sometimes it takes minutes, sometimes hours. Sometimes Sam hooks him up to an IV to give him relief. Sometimes it helps to distract Victor and, like the hiccups, the pain goes away unnoticed. But sometimes all they can do is to let him know they are there and the pain is real, even if the cause is not.

**2.**

“Victor, are you all right?”

Madeline stares at the man in the wheelchair crying in her kitchen.

Victor nods. “I’m fine,” he blurts out, sniffling, trying to wipe his eyes.

Madeline yelps “Don’t!” and nearly drops her cigarette. “You’ll only make it worse!”

“I know,” Victor sighs and puts the knife down. “But you can’t have homemade salsa without fresh onions.”

Madeline shakes her head in exasperation. Leave it to her son to drop off a shooting victim at her house who gets the strangest food cravings. On the other hand, Victor is a decent cook and she’s glad he’s doing something other than sleeping all the time.

She tears off a paper towel sheet and gently dabs at his cheeks. He smiles up at her, all blue eyes, and her heart melts into a puddle of motherly goo.

**3.**

“Victor, are you all right?”

Fiona catches him making his way off the balcony, shuffling the walker they decorated together with garish fake flowers and tons of jibbitz. He nods and holds up a finger across his lips.

“Shhh. Come watch this.”

She tiptoes over to him and he points at the balcony. “There.”

A few breathless moments later a cat appears, and Fiona suppresses a gasp. It is by far the ugliest cat she’s ever seen: a large tabby-and-white tom, one eye and one ear missing, the other ear torn to shreds. Large patches of fur are gone as well and his tail is just a stump. Caught in a fire at some point, she thinks. The cat approaches the bowl Victor has left out there – and Fiona smiles: cat food and little cubes of Spam.

Together they watch as the cat warily sniffs the food, then wolfs it down with gusto. When he’s finished he spends a minute washing his scarred face and paws, stares at them for a while and then quietly jumps up onto the railing with surprising grace and disappears.

Fiona looks at Victor and notices he’s weeping silently. She touches his hand, then wipes his face with her sleeve. He just nods awkwardly, suddenly self-conscious, and she quickly kisses him on the cheek.

He turns away again and she understands.

**4.**

“Victor, are you all right?”

Sam goes to the stairs and sees Victor sitting at the top, his face buried in his hands. Victor wipes at his eyes and nods.

Sam hands him the CDs. He’s never heard of the opera "Akhnaten", but Victor wanted it and he couldn’t believe how hard it was to get a hold of the damn thing. 

Sam points at the boom box.

“What’s that you’re listening to?”

“Soundtrack, ‘Apollo 13’,” Victor grumbles and struggles to get up. Sam grabs the crutch leaning against the railing and helps him with it. Victor puts the new CDs next to the boom box, flops onto the desk chair and sighs.

“You’re crying over a soundtrack?”

Victor rubs his face and stares at him.

“Haven’t you ever experienced anything that was so beautiful it made you bawl?”

Sam has to think about it.

“Actually, there was this one lady friend of mine, and she had this collection of European beers. She let me try a bottle of this Bavarian brew, Andix or something, that was made by monks…”

Victor rolls his eyes.

Sam grins back at him. “Well… yeah, I guess I do know.” 

Victor nods, closes his eyes and listens to the music. It is rather beautiful, Sam has to admit.

**5.**

“Victor, are you all right?”

Michael is taking him along on a smaller op that won’t require any running, an intel gathering mission interviewing two women at a daycare center. He would rather have Fi there with him, but she had to accompany Sam that morning to deal with a gun shipment.

Michael worries when Victor gets near children – not for the kids, but for his friend, and he would do anything to avoid giving Victor this sad reminder.

Victor takes off his glasses and picks at a speck of dust, his face serious. “I appreciate your sensitivity, big guy. But I’m all cried out about kids. I closed that chapter on my life for good. What’s important now is to keep _these_ little ones safe. I promise I won’t flip out on you or anything.” He puts his glasses back on and blinks at him.

Michael hesitates as they arrive, but Victor is already off like a rocket, a little wobbly but not too bad, catching a ball sailing over the fence and tossing it back to the kids with a loud whoop and this weird little dance that reminds Michael of Snoopy.

The kids adore him instantly. And Michael knows Victor is back in action.  
  


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In case you are interested...  
Akhnaten, Opera by Philip Glass: [http://www.glasspages.org/akhnaten.html](http://www.glasspages.org/akhnaten.html)  
Apollo 13 Soundtrack:  [http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/apollo13.html ](http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/apollo13.html)   
Andechs Brewery:  [http://www.andechs.de/englisch/brauerei/ ](http://www.andechs.de/englisch/brauerei/)

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**_Thanks for reading! A comment or feedback would be lovely._ **

 

**Companion Artwork by Shenandoah Risu**

"Salt"

 

 

 

  **Companion Icon by Shenandoah Risu**

 "Pretty Spies"

    
  


 


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